Hide and Seek
by Liz Diz
Summary: They are called to crime scenes everyday no matter what is they are doing to examine the scene and determine what has happened. What happens though when the scene points to a cop that is suppose to be dead? summary sucks, read and review please no flames
1. Chapter 1 Missing

**A:N: **This is just out of fun and now that I have edited and re-edited about five or six times I am hoping all spelling errors have been corrected and that you will enjoy reading my story. R and R please no flames.

**Missing**

The light flashed brightly as the camera clicked indicating the photograph had been taken. The light flashed a second time, now illuminating the six corpses that were scattered across the dark room tinted red from the blood. Each victim had several bullet holes in their bodies. They weren't only men that had been killed, but there were also two women out of the six victims. None had been sexually assaulted from a first glance but that didn't mean it wasn't a possibility. The bodies were still warm, but the skin pale. They had been murdered recently. A little under an hour perhaps. The body temperatures read ninety seven-point nine. The pale skin was moist with dark red blood that had come from the bullet holes in the victims' bodies.

Something was different about one of the male victims though. He had been murdered in a different fashion. His throat had been slit. The cut ran almost ear to ear. Danny Messer knelt beside the body of the slit throat victim. The victim's body lay not even a foot away from the door. Messer looked over at Detective Mac Taylor who was kneeling beside another victim with a bullet hole to the head. "I'd be willing to bet this guy was our first victim."

"Why do you say that?"

He pointed to the throat. "There's only victim with the throat slit and he's the closest," He turned his body to indicate the door. "To the door. So the murderer comes in, grabs the first guy he sees and slits his throat. Then he pulls out a gun and shoots the rest of them."

Taylor thought about it for a moment. It sounded like a good layout plan. Unless there was two involved in the murders and not one. Another possibility was that a victim had killed the murderer with a knife and ran. He thought that a victim had been present because the police that received the call of the murders said that the person was crying and terrified when they spoke with him or her as well as the fact they couldn't find the person who had made the call. "Any bruising on the slit throat victim?"

Messer looked down at the victim. Finger marks from where the victim was grabbed on the back of the neck. "Something's weird. The victim has marks on the back of the neck. The murderer must have grabbed him from behind, but it he had to hold him for a while to have so much bruising. Maybe the murderer held this one hostage for a while."

Taylor looked down beside his victim. No bruises were present on his victim. Something else caught his eye though. A shoe print was in the blood. The murderer had been stupid enough to walk through the victims blood. Now they had a shoe size, with that they could possibly determine a height. But also, he flashed the light toward the direction the shoe prints went, a trail to wherever the murderer went. They led to a shut door that led into another bed room. There was still only the blood on the floor which then led into the hall.

Detective Don Flack walked into the room and looked down at the trail. He walked in from the way that the trail indicated the murderer had left. "The trail continues down the hall into another apartment." He informed them. "There are more bodies."

"Holy crap." Messer stated as he stood and looked over at Flack before he stepped out into the hall. About four or five rooms down were police sealing off the rest of the building. "Our boy's been busy."

"You have to take a look at one of the things we found." Flack told them with a slight sigh of concern. Taylor looked at him as he stood up when he sensed his concern in his voice. "We may have a problem."

Taylor and Messer followed Flack down the hallway into the room that was crawling with cops. They walked into the room. "Oh my god." Taylor muttered while he looked at the scene. The room had only two bodies. A woman and a man. Both were stringed up in little clothing and stabbed numerous times. From the head to the legs. The victims had been literally butchered alive."Our boy's been very busy."

"Yeah but that's not the thing that was surprising to me." Flack told them and he pointed to the ground, to one of the yellow cards with the numbers that indicated evidence. "Number seven."

Taylor knelt down to get a closer look at the evidence he had indicated at number seven. A New York Police Department Badge. And it wasn't a fake either. He looked up at Flack. "Has anyone identified who this belongs too?"

"No one's touched it." He told him as Taylor picked it up to examine it. "I wanted you to be the first to examine it." Blood was splattered across the front of the badge. Whether the blood was from the victims or the murderers, he wouldn't know until he sent it to DNA. He opened it carefully. All identification had been removed from the inside of it.

Taylor gave a sigh before he spoke. "Well we either on of two things. A dead or missing cop."

"You forgot number three Mac." Messer told him as he moved to retrieve a gun from the ground. "A killer cop."

Taylor looked around the floor. It was a clutter thrown items such as chairs and furniture and several papers that had been partially or completely burned. He saw what appeared to be half of a drivers license. He reached over and picked it up. It was a concealed weapons permeant. Only part of one though. He looked over at Messer who was looking for anything to id the badge that they had found. Taylor had placed the badge inside a bag to be sent back to the lab to get lifted for any prints. He looked back at the permeant for any signatures that were on it. He got part of one. All it read was _Nata_.

He looked up at Flack. "How many undercover cops are women?"

Flack shrugged at him. "Not too many why?"

"Because I have half a name." He told him. "And unless Nathan is being spelt without another _a _now then I have a concealed weapons permeant with the signature Natasha."

"I'll be taking that." A voice told him. Taylor stood up and looked at the man who had ordered him to hand over the evidence. "And you won't be looking for her."

"Hey Jacob." He knew the man as Jacob Hemm. He was the chief at the U.C department and not personally a good friend of the crime lab department. "I'm sorry but this is evidence in our crime scene. I can't give it to you."

"Yes, you can." He told him with a little more force than the last time. He was trying to cover something up and not doing a good job of it either."Because the woman who owns the permeant doesn't exist."

"She has too if you are so eager to get rid of the evidence." Messer broke in with a little annoyance. He didn't like Hemm much either. He was too arrogant for his own good in his opinion.

"Danny Messer." Hemm began with a look of disgust. "I'd watch out looking for any undercover cops, more than likely you'll confuse her with a perp and shoot her." Messer went to lash out at him but Flack grabbed hold of him and held him back. A couple of cops moved to help him and the rest grabbed Hemm who moved ready to take a swing as well. "Let him come at me the dirty son of a bitch!"

"Hey!" Flack began pushing him back away from him. "Knock it off." Messer finally nodded and he was released. He stood his hands curled into fists, he was still ready to lash out at him when he turned away and placed his hand to his face. Flack turned back to Hemm just as he was released by the police. "You can shut the hell up! You are going to let us do our jobs which means you get the hell out of our crime scene right now."

"Fine then." He snorted at him. He pointed to Taylor who stood beside Messer. "Don't go digging after that girl. And don't try to find her." With that final message he turned and walked out the door. Two cops followed him out.

Taylor looked at Messer and handed him the permeant to put into a bag. "Go digging."

Messer nodded, happy to do something that Hemm had told them especially not to do. He left with the permeant, leaving Taylor and Flack to go over the scene. Taylor looked to Flack when he was certain Messer was out of hearing range. "He said that Danny would confuse her with a perp."

"So she is still alive."

"Possibly." He told him with a sigh. "Do you know any women police who were killed within the last year?"

Flack thought for a moment. "Three that I know of. There could be more but the ones I know of are: Jannet Abes, Kendra Bracktor and Natasha Connors."

Taylor nodded to him. "The first part of that permeant started with Nata and we're looking for a Natasha." Flack nodded and looked back to the scene. "Natasha Connors was here, now the question is 'where is she now?'"

* * *

Taylor sat in his office for a few minutes upon his return. He had sent all the evidence off to be checked and he looked at his computer for some information on any funerals involving Natasha Collins.

At the same time Messer sat at the keyboard of a computer, searching the database for any Nata in the U.C department. He was unaware that Taylor had been told a name so he was searching nearly blind. Nothing so far had turned up but he hadn't been their for that long. Not even a half an hour since he had to drop off several things at DNA and to be analyzed for anything out of the ordinary.

Aiden Burn walked into the lab where he was working on the case. "Hey, Flack said that you got in a fight?"

"Almost." He told her looking briefly at her then back at the screen when it started to beep. He gave a smile and smacked the side of his chair. "Got her."

Burn leaned over to see what he was looking at. It was an id of a long blonde haired woman. "Who's this?"

"Natasha Connors." Taylor's voice came from behind them as he walked into the lab. He hadn't been successful in his search for anything that had pertained to any funerals for her. It was almost like she didn't exist anymore except for in a daze or a dream.

"What the hell is the point of me looking it up if you know the name already?" Messer asked with a sigh as he watched Taylor walk in. "I mean really I went to all the work."

"I only got a name." Taylor informed him as he walked over to the computer to look at the rest of the information about her that Messer had pulled up. "You have everything else."

Burn had already skimmed through most of it. "Wow. She was only nineteen." She stated as she looked through the rest of the information. No living relatives, no place of residence, nothing after her age and her name. "I thought that we weren't allowed to take them that young."

A word stuck with Taylor that Burn had said. "What do you mean by 'was'?"

"It says she dead three months ago." She told him while Messer rolled on his chair away from them as they continued to look at the computer.

"That death has either been faked or someone took on her identity." Taylor told him with as much surprise in his voice as Burn's had in hers. "She must have a relative somewhere high in the NYPD to allow her to come in so early."

"She would have had to been fifteen or fourteen when she first entered the police academy." Burn stated. "But I didn't think they could do that either."

"Nope." Messer told them out of the blue from another computer.

"What are you talking about?"

"She's one of those incredibly early graduates from high school."

"How early is early?"

"Fourteen."

"Holy crap." Burn exclaimed for all of them. "Talk about a little beyond smart."

"Graduated top five in her class."'

"A 'little'?" Taylor questioned Burn then looked back to the computer. "Check for any relatives that are in the NYPD. She has to have a relative in the department or else she couldn't have be admitted so young." He looked back to Messer who seemed a little out odd, some how confused, as he looked over the profile of the undercover cop. "What's wrong?"

"I don't think she's dead." He told him with a shake of his head.

"Well duh she's not dead why would be looking for her if she was?"

Messer continued his rather stupid argument. "Haven't UC's been known to fake there own death's in order to stay undercover longer?"

Burn looked at Taylor. "It has been known to happen but it's not that common."

"Still it's a possibility. The Miami detective, Horatio, his own brother faked his own death when he was in over his head." Taylor told them and he thought it over for a moment for a moment. "Danny pull up her last assignment."

Messer mover the mouse of the computer to pull up her assignment. "She was assigned to do a gang arrest." He turned back to him, his eyes showed both horror and surprise at what he read on the screen. "She was dealing with the Tanglewood boys when she was killed."

* * *

Taylor walked into the jail and sat at one of the station waiting for Sonny Sassone to come. He knew that his best chance of learning anything about the UC would be him. The only thing he know for sure was the Sassone would not be in a co-operative mood after the last thing they had done to him. The Italian murderer sat across from him and looked at Talyor. He gave a smirk as he leaned forward to speak.

"Well, well, well," He began with a smirk. His arrogance could be heard in his words and in his posture. Arrogance that Taylor did not need for this case. "What the hell are you doing here Detective Taylor?"

"Came to ask you about a young woman."

He shrugged. "I've been with a lot of girls. You need to be specific." Taylor pulled out a picture of Natasha Conners and held it up for him to look at. Sassone gave a slight nod and stuck out his lower lip a bit. "She's not bad looking." He said with a smile. "She looks familiar though." He began and leaned on his elbow, his hand to his head. He was trying to think of who she was. He had seen her before. He was sure of that. He snapped his fingers. "She was the girl at the strip joint down on Fifth. Brighter and curlier hair, big green eyes. Man, could that woman dance."

"Do you have a name I could have?"

He smirked. "Why should I cooperate with you?"

"Because she was murdered and the last time we heard about her she was with you."

"You gonna pin another murder on me?" He sneered at him.

"I can since evidence is pointing towards you."

He gave an annoyed sigh at him. "Black Diamond." Taylor gave a nod and thought over the name before he stood and began to walk away. "What she to you?" Taylor stopped and turned back to look at him. Sassone shrugged at him. "She's just a stripper. Or is she something else?"

"To the NYPD something else." Taylor told him. "To you she'll just be a stripper."

* * *

Stella Bonasera looked down at the photos of the U.C. that the computer had managed to pull up as possibly aliases. Heather Giles and Victoria Hicks. Originally, she had gone onto find associates she had been in contact with and these two came up in the top five. The reason she thought the women were aliases was because of one thing that they shared in common. Both had three earrings on the left ear. The top part not the lower lobe. Besides that the differences between the two were obvious. Skin tone, hair color. She stared at the photos trying to think of a way to find her. Neither of the women had any outstanding warrants for arrest.

_With so much change in the skin tones, _she thought over as she looked down at the photo. _She has to buy a lot of it._ She moved over to the computer and typed in a search for long lasting make-up. Several hits came up but the only one that stood out was a brand that was used on the stage. It was sold at only two places on Broadway. She'd have to check them both.

* * *

Bonasera entered the costume shop entitled, _Make-up For All Productions_. A man dressed as a woman stood behind the counter. He looked rather portly and sleepy from what she saw of him while the shopwas surprisingly neat. Everything organized and placed in specific places. She shrugged it off and walked to the counter.

"Good afternoon." The man began with a soft yawn. He covered his mouth to finish it out of politeness. "Can I help you?"

"Yes." She began as she pulled out the photos of the U.C. "Have you seen these women?" She said these women because she didn't want to tip anything off if she was still alive.

He took the photos to look at them closer. He nodded. "Yes, the white haired one's name is Viccy, and the black hair is Heather. Heather usually comes in once a month. Viccy several times. Heather should be coming in today actually. She called ahead to make sure her orders were in." The bell on the door chimed and in walked the woman he had named as Heather. "Here she is. Hello Heather."

She looked at Bonasera briefly then to the man behind the counter. "Hey Micks." She began as she walked up the counter. Her accent was a thick New York accent. She was dressed in dark clothes. A short black skirt with fish net blood red panty hose, a see through net top with a dark bra beneath it and over that a trench coach. Her eyes, icy and cold stared at Bonasera before she turned her gaze back to the counter man. It was then, when she turned her head that she saw the thing that connected the two women. The three earrings on the top of the left ear. "My order?"

"Oh yeah." The man began as he got off his chair and moved to a door. "It's in the back I'll be right back. How's things going at that...oh where's that place you work at?"

"Bob's grocers." She began with a sigh. "I got fired."

"Again?" He questioned her with a sneaker as he walked away. "Is that the seventh time in three weeks."

"My order." She sneered at him. "Now."

He left leaving her and Bonasera in the front. "You're names Heather?"

"Yeah, what the hell's it to you?"

Bonasera pulled out her badge. "CSI ma'am."

"Don't call me 'ma'am'." She hissed at her defensively her arms crossed over her chest and she leaned against the counter. Her hand moved to itch her nose piercing. Bonesara guessed that it was fake because she didn't have any piercings in the photo. "And I haven't killed anyone."

"No but you know someone who is missing."

"Which one?" She questioned her with a smug look across her face. "I know a few runaways and dead people. I could call upon the spirits to come to speak with you." She pulled out several tarot cards and something relating to a Ouija board. She began to shuffle the deck of cards when she looked up at her. "Interested?"

"Do you know a woman by the name of Natasha Connors?"

She shrugged and placed the Ouija board related item back into her pocket and continued to shuffle the cards. "Don't ring any bells. Why?"

"Cause we thinks she's alive."

"Good for you then."She told her with a low growl as she flipped a card over on the counter.

"Heather what's your last name?"

"Giles what's it mean to you?" She asked her as she continued to pick out a flip certain cards onto the counter.

"Heather Giles. You do know Natasha Connors some how don't you?"

She gave an annoyed look of utter hate at her. "I told you I don't know her." She hissed at her as the man walked out with a small box. "I don't give a damn about some dead U.C."

"How'd you know she was a undercover cop?"

She motioned around the store. "Look where you are."

"And you got the fact she was a U.C from this?"

"I've seen her tombstone at the cemetery." She turned back to counterman and began to hand him the money.

"So you go to her grave."

The girl slammed her hand on the counter. Her eyes were harsh and icy cold from Bonesara's questions and statements. The man jumped at the sound. She turned back to Bonasera, her eyes glared the brilliant blue showing her disgust and hate at her questions. "You have no idea who the hell I am or what the hells happened to me. So I suggest you leave me the hell alone. You try and find me and I won't be able to help you no matter how deep you go." She stared intensely at her for a moment. It was almost like she wanted to tell her something. Some thing that could help but she couldn't. Without another word the woman grabbed her order, not even stopping to get her change. She smashed her shoulder into Bonesara's and left in a huff.

Bonesara moved over to the counter after being ran into, obviously she had done it on purpose as a warning. She saw that Giles had left one of the tarot cards behind. The magician card. She looked up and watched Giles turned and glared at her again before beginning to jog down the street.

* * *

Taylor entered the lab again. He hoped to have some identifications on the victims. He had sent Messer to process some of the victims clothes when he entered the room. He was hoping that he could find something that pertained to Connors on the other victims clothes. "Have you got any identifications on the victims from the scene?"

Messer looked up at him. "Yeah." He began and moved to a stack of folders and papers. He held opened a folder for one of the victims out of the stack of folders he had on one of the desk. "Our slit throat victim, his name is Jake Wilks, he has a history drug dealing. The others have close to the same backgrounds."

"What about the two in the room that were hung?"

"You'll have to talk to the doc." He told him with a shrug. "He's just getting to the bodies now."

Taylor nodded and continued. "What about relatives in the department for our missing U.C?"

At that moment Bonasera walked into the lab. In her hand was an evidence bag and her own stack of papers. "Hey, I have news on you undercover."

Taylor nodded. "Let me hear it then."

"She is one of the best in the NYPD." She began handing him the papers. "Out of the seven cases she has closed six in the process of two years. The one was cause we took care of them."

"The Tanglewood boys." Messer told them.

Bonasera nodded to them. "As of right now she is suppose to be working on two cases. One still in the area that the Tanglewood boys were present acting as a stripper and the other deep in the Bronx dealing with Satanist and Cults."

"Talk about a change of scenery." Taylor stated while he looked down at the papers. He looked at the photos of the people she was. He looked at one of a her with almost white wavy hair, her skin was very tan and her eyes bright green. "This is the woman that Sunny described for me." He informed them. He looked at the name that she had chosen for this one. Name unknown. He flipped to the next page. The photo was of her, though it was difficult to tell, brilliant blue eyes, dark black hair, her skin was incredible pale though. "She knows how to work make-up well."

Bonasera nodded to him. "I found the store that sells her the make-up. It's a costume shop down on Broadway. They said that three women come in for this kind of make-up."

"Stage make-up." Taylor stated with a nod. He looked back up at her. "Three women?"

"One, the darker haired woman's name is Heather Giles and the light blonde is Victoria Hicks." She began with a sigh. "I actually ran into Heather Giles at the store. She was picking up an order."

"Did you get anything out of her?"

"She left this behind." She handed him the magician card she had left behind. "I went online to learn what it meant. The magician card is part of tarot decks it represents a talented person with skills, abilities, originality, determination and initiative. I think she was trying to show it was her but by being discreet."

Messer looked over at her between looking at the clothes. "What do you mean?"

"What do undercover cops have?" She questioned him while Taylor looked at the card. "They have skill and certain abilities that uniformed cops don't. The ability to act and the determination to not break under pressure. I think that Heather Giles is Natasha Connors and this was a way of telling us." She told him. "Another way that she has revealed who she is by this." She pulled out another photograph, this time of Connors and set it down beside the other three. "What's similar?"

Taylor looked at the photos for a moment before he realized what it was. "The earrings. All the exact same ones, all in the exact same place." He looked up to Bonesara. "Did she say anything that could help us figure out what's going on?"

"I can't be certain but the last thing she told me was," She thought for a brief moment over what she had said to her earlier. "She had said that she couldn't help us if we went in too deep."

Taylor looked down at the papers then at Bonesara. "My office." He told her then motioned to Messer. "I want the results on my desk as soon as possible and the rest of the names. Get Aiden to help you if you need any." Messer nodded and they walked out of the lab. They entered the detectives office and he leaned against his desk a little, trying to think of the right words to ask about the U.C. "You think she was trying to send you a message?"

She shrugged at him. "Possibly. The card told us who she was and what she told me sounded like she was trying to warn us. She doesn't seem to want anyone to get.." Just then a cell-phone went off. She looked at her jacket as she pulled out of her pocket. She looked up to Taylor and shook her head. Her eyes showed her surprise to the phone being there. "This isn't mine."

He extended his hand and she handed the phone to him. Bonesara thoughtover how she could have gotten someone elses phone into her pocket. Giles. When she smashed into her as she left the store. She looked to Taylor as he looked at it briefly before he opened it. "Don't hang up and don't try to trace this call. You won't be able to."

"Who is this?"

"Who the hell do you think Detective Taylor?" The voice told him. The voice sounded female and relatively annoyed. "Why is it that when you CSI's are told not to go diggin' after people you can't help but too?"

"Natasha Connors." He told her.

"Wow, I'm glad you know my name."

"Why did you tell Detective Stella Bonasera not to get involved?"

"Because I'm already into deep." She hoarsely stated.

Loud music banged in the background and another voice boomed in. "Viccy get back to work you frickin' whore!"

"Screw you Nick!" She shouted back in a thick accent. Her voice went back to normal briefly. "Stay the hell out of it. I can't help you if you go any deeper into this."

"Connors where are you?"

With that the phone went silent.

**A/N:** Just a start please don't be mean. If you don't like it you don't have to tell me. No flames please just r/r.


	2. Chapter 2 Snakes in the Garden

**A:N: **Thanks to 72NewYorker525, YumaWolf, and dopeyidiot for your great reviews. I appreciate them a lot. Sorry this one took a while to do. I was stuck doing research on several bits of this story.

**Snakes in the Garden**

Taylor looked over at Bonesara as the phone clicked indicating the other line was dead. His face showed his worry just as Messer walked back through the door. He was worried about why she wouldn't talk. She had to be in deeper than anyone thought if she was sneaking around to call them. Messer looked at both of them before he brought his folder up to show he had something for them. He noticed that both Taylor and Bonesara looked rather shocked at whatever had just happened, but he didn't bother asking what it was that had them shook up.

"Hey Mac," Messer began and they both looked over at him. "I got something you need to see."

Taylor nodded to him and Messer turned and left while he looked back to Bonesara. "Find all the men named 'Nick' that own a strip club in the area that the Tanglewood boys are at. He'll probably own one on Fifth if she's still workingat the same club." She nodded andleft to head off to the lab to run a search for theowner.Taylor went off after Messer to see what he had found out about the other victims. "What did you find Danny?" He questioned him as he entered the room.

Messer looked over his shoulderto watch Taylor enter the room. He motioned to the clothes whenTaylorgot closer to the table."I got blood and a lot of it as you know already. I sent some over to Aiden to see if it matches any of the other victims. However the blood that I'm talking about is isolated on the front of the victim's shirt," He pointed to the area involved, all located on the breast area of the shirt. "So I'm guessing someone was held against this vic."

"Why couldn't of it had been the vic's blood?"

"Because the vic was shot in the side," he moved his hand to a hole in the shirt. "Here...and the blood is concentrated there while this blood concentration is on his chest. Aiden will have the results in an hour at the most. I sent them to her a few minutes ago."

"Which victim is this?" Taylor asked him.

"He was found in the room with the two women. His name is Blake Grisdale." He told him. "Evidence of the blood on the floor in the other room with the two strung up put down that one of the blood samples taken was not a match to anyone else's in the apartment."

"So," Taylor began with a slight sigh. "This man was on the opposing side with our murderer. So we have two murderers then."

Messer nodded to him. "The only question is why didn't they kill Connors if she was there."

Flack entered the room with an upbeat pace. "Well I can't help you with that but I found something very interesting about Miss Connors."

"Let's hear it." Taylor told him.

"Yeah we need something good compared to what we've been finding lately."

"Well I don't know if you'll like this Danny." Flack told him and Messer looked at up him waiting to hear what he had to say. "Your relative papers came up on the computer and she is related to Jacob Hemm." Both Taylor and Messer stared at him as though he was insane. "On her mother's side. He's her uncle. After her parents were killed he claim custody over her."

* * *

Hemm stood in Taylor's office. He knew that Taylor had been looking in on his undercover cops records. He wasn't happy about it either, but it wasn't why he was there. Taylor had actually called him in for some reason or another. If it was involving his dead undercover officer then he would have several particular words that he had picked out before hand for him.

Taylor entered the room and Hemm put his hands on his hips out of annoyance of having to be there. "What the hell's going on Mac? I thought I told you not to look into the death of Natasha Connors."

"How did you know it was Natasha Connors I was going to talk to you about?" Hemm looked to the ground when he realized his mistake of saying Connors' name. "You are going to tell me what I need to know about her and why you didn't bother telling us anything about her as well."

Hemm crossed his arms across his chest. He wasn't at all pleased to be talking about the u.c. "To be frank Mac, I told you not to go looking for her and you did. You can just piss off."

"She's not dead is she Jacob?"

"No shit." He snapped back at him rather annoyed. "You listen to me and you listen good Mac.."

"No, you shut up now Jacob and you listen to me." Taylor told him, impatience rang in his voice. Hemm glared at him for telling him to be silent. Taylor leaned over his desk and glared at him. "You're undercover cop contacted us or would you know her better as your niece?" Hemm gave an annoyed sigh before he continued. "How the hell did you get her into the u.c department when she is only nineteen?"

"That's none of your business." He informed him. "She didn't do anything to the CSI's so leave her be."

"She is one of the only two living witnesses to our murder case." Taylor told him, noticing Burn walking towards his office.

"All you have is a piece of paper and a badge." Hemm retorted at him when Burn walked into the office. "Nothing more."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that." Burn began with a smirk. Taylor looked to her as did Hemm. She handed Taylor the folder. "The blood on the vic's shirt is no match to anyone that we found but the blood is probably female."

Taylor looked over at Hemm. "You know she was there." Hemm stood his arms still crossed across his chest. "Aiden will you go help Danny with the rest of the victims clothing?"

She nodded. "Sure thing Mac."

He waited till she left the room before he continued to question Hemm over the u.c. "Where is she and why do you keep hiding her?"

"I honestly don't know where she is."

"Jacob."

"I honestly don't." He told him. He could hear him being or at least trying to be sincere with what he was saying. "When I give Natasha her assignments I don't usually hear from her for months or at least until she sends an emergency signal to us that she's in trouble or when she has her person in custody." He gave a sigh, his hand moved to his face and he shook his head. "I'm guessing that since you know I'm her uncle that you also know that I've custody over her since she was sixteen?"

Taylor nodded to him. "How did you get her into the police academy?"

"Pulled a few strings." He told him with a growl. "She was extremely smart for her age and physical. She was on the track team, the hockey team, and the rugby team. She had told me she wanted to be a cop so I pulled a few strings to get her in." He looked at the ground. "I got custody of her when her parents and older brother died. We didn't get along well after they were killed, still don't, she loves the job though so she deals with me."

"Why did she fake her own death?"

He shrugged. "Said she was getting in deep, didn't want to be recognized as a cop so we said she was burned to death."

"Is there any place we could talk to her?"

He shook his head. "She hates cops coming in on her turf. I won't even send my cops in after her unless she calls for it. I can't help anymore Mac." He told him with a groan. "She's working three cases and is close to getting one of the guys we need to close it."

"How does she submit her reports if she won't get close to the cops?"

"She leaves them in places and we pick them up." He informed him. "Mostly tapes and video shit. She does what she has too to get the job done. I'm not helping anymore Mac. Stay the hell away from her."

"I can't do that." He told him. "She's a key witness in a murder investigation and we need to speak with her and I don't care if she is in the middle of a case or not she needs to come in and speak with us about what she saw that night when the murders took place."

Hemm shook his head and began to walk out the door. "I can't help you Mac." He stopped just as he was about to leave and turned back to him. "Don't ask anyone over at my department to help you. They have orders not to. Just leave this one alone. The guy who did the killing will probably in custody in a matter of days anyway. Lay off it till then. After all the CSI guys may mistake her for someone who she isn't." With that he left the room and the department, hopefully for good.

* * *

Taylor made his way to the morgue. He needed to talk to Doctor Sheldon Hawkes about the victims and whether or not any of them were on Connors hit list. He had managed to get a list, not too many names but enough to learn that she had to be fairly good at what she did. He had seven names that the department would give him of who she was after. Possible more. He looked at Hawkes as he began to pull out one victim.

"Tell me something good Sheldon." He began while he walked over to the victim.

"Well," Hawkes began as he pulled the white blanket over the first male victims face and upper torso. Taylor recognized the face of the man. He was one of the two victims that were hanging in the room where the badge had been local. "Two different blades where used on this man, Eric Keels."

Taylor could see the differences between the different stab wounds. One was about an inch wide while the other was about an inch and a half. "Two different attackers."

Hawkes nodded. "But I found something interesting that wasn't made from a knife." He brought the blanket lower. Three long thin scratches running down his abdomen. "I thought at first that he got a little too ruff between him and the woman in the room, Rebecca Wilks. Her brother was Jake Wilks, the slit throat victim. But when I went to check for any skin under her fingernails all I got was someone else's beside Eric Keels. It doesn't match any of the other victims either."

"Male or female?"

"Male."

Taylor thought for a moment over what could have happened that night. "So she fought against the attacker."

"None of the other victims have any of Eric Keels skin under their finger nails." Hawkes told him with a quiet sigh. "So either the undercover cop you're looking for scratched him either that or your murder did."

"You said that his name was Eric Keels?" Taylor questioned him and he nodded. He looked down at list then back up at the body. "He was one of the people she was suppose to take into custody. So she goes to take him into custody and it all went wrong. The question is where did it go wrong. Thanks Doctor Hawkes."

"Any time." He told him as Taylor walked out of the morgue to head back to the lab.

* * *

Taylor walked down to the lab where Bonasera, Burn, Messer and Flack all stood over looking the evidence and photos of the crime scene. They were debating where the killer stood and where the undercover cop stood. Taylor looked at all of them, his eyes told them he was wondering why all of them where in one spot at the same time. "Tell me one of you at least has good news."

Flack looked at everyone then went first. "No one down at the Undercover Department will talk about her. As far as they know she's dead. I figure a couple have to know if she still alive or not."

"She is still alive." Taylor told him. "She called us via a cell phone earlier today. Which reminds me, Stella?" He looked over at her as she looked up from her papers. "How did she give you that phone?"

Bonesara thought for a moment. Over the meeting she had with Connors at the costume. Analyzing every detail, trying to recall everything that had taken place while they were in the store. She had been discussing things that involved the u.c, well herself really, when she had gotten mad and left in a huff. When she left... Bonesara looked over at him. "When she left the shop. She smashed her shoulder into mine. She must of had the cell in her hand then dropped it into my pocket. What happened with Jacob?"

"Jacob Hemm is Natasha Connor's uncle on her mothers side." Taylor told them. "And she does not like him that much for some reason. He told me only that he had helped her get into the academy and told us to stay away from her." He looked to Messer. "She is also handling three cases not two."

"Hey I don't get everything that the u.c's hide in their databases." He told him defensively. "The vic holdin' her was named Kevin Gribs. He has gun shot residue on his hands and mixes of four different donors blood. Two I couldn't match from any of victims that we found, one male, one female. Aiden found that out and just gave me the result of the male, gave you the female result a while ago when Jacob was in your office."

"Aiden, Danny you go back do to the crime scene and make sure that we didn't miss anything." Taylor told them before he looked to Bonesara. "What about Nick?"

"I have the only one Nick that owns a strip joint down on Fifth where the Tanglewood boys were known to hang out." Bonesara told him with a smile. "Should we go and strip search him?"

"I think he gets enough of that at night as it is." Messer smirked off.

* * *

Taylor, Bonesara and Flack walked into the Fifth strip joint cleverly named the_ Fifth Strips_ or rather stupidly named. Taylor had brought Flack along since he had dealt with the undercover cops before. He didn't want to have to worry about having to deal with any problems with any other U.C's either. It was quiet but then again it was three o'clock in the afternoon. Girls were scattered around the club, lazily sprawled out on the couches and other pieces of furniture scattered across the club. Some were smoking, others drinking and talking aimlessly it seemed at times. Nothing really caught their glances for a moment.

But something soon did. A young blonde with piercing yellow eyes staring intensely at them. She had a cigarette in her hand, partially smoked. Silver rings decorated her hands, bracelets as well. All up and down her arms. Her make-up was on dark and she had several different piercings all over her body. Nose, eyebrows, huge hoop earrings. A tattoo on her ankle. Something was odd about her. The way she looked at them. Anger was in her eyes for them being there. She got up from where she was sitting, her cigarette in her mouth as she walked over to them.

"We're not opened 'til eight." She told them in a thick Russian accent, her yellow eyes stared at them. Rather hatefully. It was obvious that she was not at all happy to see them. "And we don't allow you in 'til then so you can turn around and leave the way you came in. Come back at eight and you'll get your show then."

"We're not here for that type of business." Flack informed her as he flashed her his badge. The young woman gave a glare at Bonesara then looked back to Flack and Taylor. "Do you happen to know Victoria Hicks?"

She shook her head, her lower lip pouted out a little bit. "No." She thought for a moment as Bonesara handed her a photo of the lighter blonde haired Hicks. The woman took the photo from her hands . "Black Diamond?" She told him with a questionably concerned sigh. She looked back up at them. "You're lookin' for Black Diamond? Why?"

"Yes," Bonesara stated for him. "Where you close to her? Do you know where she is?"

She shook her head at them. "B-D bugged out before I ever came. Probably about a month ago. I've only seen photos of her dancing." She handed the photo back to Bonesara. "She was one of Nick's favs if you get what I mean."

Taylor nodded to her. "Miss, what is your name out of curiosity?"

"Victoria Anderson a.k.a. Eastern Diamond." She told them with a smile. "B-D was the best in Nick's place before I came along. He named me after her."

"He names you?"

"He gives us our dance names." She told them with a nod. Her face was still stern and harsh. "He likes his snakes. Eastern Diamonds and Black Diamonds. I actually got bit by an eastern diamondback rattlesnake before. Had a boyfriend who liked to hike a lot. Got bit coming back to the main lodge, got bit right while I was walking." She gave a coy smirk. "Another reason why he gave me the name."

Taylor's eyes suddenly focused on her abdomen. She was the only girl to have it cover up. All the rest of the women in the club were wearing their show types. Something, probably a bandage, was sticking out from underneath the tight leather shirt. On the bandage was a dark red color, more than likely blood. "What happened to you?" He pointed to where the bandage was sticking out. "Were you injured recently?"

She opened her mouth to explain but something interrupted her. "Vic!" A male's voice shouted from behind her. She turned and looked in the direction of the voice. "No business til eight! Why the hell are they here?"

She turned and shouted back. "They're cops Nick!" He walked out of a back room and headed over to them. He was a well-built man, early thirties perhaps, dark black hair with blonde highlights. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist kissing her on her neck. She gave a stupid grin at his advance on her. "They're here about B-D."

His hands stopped feeling her body and looked up at them. "I'm Nick Braker." He told them with a little shock at the mention of Black Diamond. He looked at Anderson as he began to release her from his grasp. "Go to the back, I'll be back there in five." She nodded to him and walked off. He watched her walk back to the room before he turned back to him. "What's up with Vic?"

"She's missing." Taylor informed him as Braker crossed his arms at them. "When did Miss Diamond leave your employment Mr. Braker?"

He thought for a moment. "Before Eastern showed up." He told him with a sigh. "Probably four, five weeks ago. Said she was moving to Miami for a couple of years. She had a deal with a porno guy for the next two or three years. Can't wait to see her topping the adult film section."

"Do you know anything that could help us in our investigation?"

He shook his head. "Well," He looked up at them and smirked. "She was a good ride."

* * *

Messer and Burn walked back into the room where the badge had been found. Pools of blood and blood trails still covered the floor. Almost everything had been taken in as evidence so if they were looking for anything it had to be incredibly hidden. Messer moved into the room first. His eyes searched for something that could have been easily looked over when they were first processing the scene and considering they had literally turn the place apart looking for evidence, it seemed impossible that they could have missed anything. It had been known to happen though, so they would look the whole scene over again.

"So we're looking for something that we can't see." He began as he pulled on his gloves. "Like looking for a needle in a hay stack."

"Not really." Burn told him with a smirk as she pulled out on of the scene sketches that Flack and Taylor had done. She moved to stand next to him. "Look here." She pointed to the shoe print traces. "The smallest pair of shoe prints went to this window." She pointed to a nearby window. "And they stop there put there was no evidence of a forced exit."

He looked at the window. "Well let's see if that's where someone got away." He opened the window and looked out of it. He could see a trail of blood. "And someone did." He climbed out of the window and onto the fire escape. "So..this is how she got away."

"You think it was the undercover cop?"

"Well the shoe print probably matches hers." He told her. "So, theundercover realizes she's been made and needs to bolt. Why would she shut the window behind her though?"

Burn looked closely at the edge of the window. "To stop someone from hitting her." She pointed to stab marks on the wood. "Someone was after her."

"And got her too." Messer pointed to some blood splatters on the walls outside of the rooms on the buildings brick. "I got blood splatters that form in a line. Says she got stabbed then it was yanked out of her rather harshly."

"Let's take a blood sample back to the lab." Burn told him. "Make sure it is the U.C's blood."

He nodded to her and they began to take samples of what he was hoping was blood from only a minor injury. With the fact she had called them early that day and where she was working a major injury on the job would be a probably when it was made visible.

* * *

"Well that was not helpful at all." Flack began with a sigh of annoyance as they entered the lab from being down at the strip club. "Didn't learn a thing."

"Are you so sure that we didn't?" Taylor told him.

"What do you mean Mac?" He questioned him as they stopped to finish the discussion.

Taylor looked up at him. "The woman who called the cell phone went by the name Viccy. Viccy is short for Victoria and she had a thick accent."

"You think that Victoria Anderson is actually Victoria Hicks?"

"Both being Natasha Connors." Bonesara voiced in, her hands on her hips..

"How can you be sure?"

"Victoria Anderson said she got her dance name Eastern Diamond because she got bit by an eastern diamondback rattlesnake right?" He questioned him to make sure he had hear correctly. Flack nodded to him as he crossed his arms. "Something that serious would have to go into medical records."

Messer walked out to them from his lab. "It did." He informed them as he looked down at the medical records for a moment. "These things were murder to get hold of." He looked up at them briefly then back to the folder. "She was bit about a year and a half ago by an eastern diamondback rattlesnake when she was hiking the everglades. She got a five hundred milligram dose of the venom from the snake."

"Holy crap.." Flack said aloud. "The girl's lucky to be alive. Isn't the lethal dose is like seven hundred?"

"No that's the maximum those snakes can dish out." He told him pulling out another file on rattlesnakes. "The lethal dose is one hundred for a healthy human." He looked back up at Taylor as he handed him one of the folders he was carrying. "She should have died, luckily whoever she was with had a cell on him."

"It says that the bite left her in a coma for a little over a month." Taylor stated as he read the doctors report over the incident. "She now has an immunity built up against the venom."

"Lucky her." Flack mumbled as he began to walk off. "Anything you want me to look up?"

"Find out what the third assignment is that she has." Taylor told him. "Once you do, take Danny to go find her and see if she has any time to give an statement over what happened at the apartments."

"I still have some more info for you Mac." Messer told him and pulled out a photo of the wall outside the apartment from the second folder he was carrying. "Found her blood outside on the fire escape. I'm guessing it was her means of escape. The blood splatters indicate she was cut on the way out."

"That explains why she had the bandage on at the club." He told him. "Good job." He told him and began to walk away. "Now all we have to do is find the rest of the snakes that are in this woman's life and bring them to light. I'm going to take the phone apart see if I can't get a trace on it."

"I'll see if I can find out who the man was that was with her the day she was bit by the snake." Bonesara told him as she walked off as well. "He may help us find her if they're still close."

They all had their assignments to do in order to solve what she was. Now the only problem was trying to find what supposable couldn't be found.

* * *

**A/N:** Please no flames. Thanks again to 72NewYorker525, YumaWolf, and dopeyidiot again for the reviews. Please do review. 


	3. Chapter 3 Dance The Night Away

**A:N: **Thanks to Little Wing, 72NewYorker525, YumaWolf, and dopeyidiot for their reviews. Sorry this took a while. Just have been running a lot and I just had my wisdom teeth pulled so I've been on vicaden (I know I didn't spell that right). I've been sleeping...alot

* * *

**Dance the Night Away**

Taylor had torn the phone apart and hadn't found a thing to get a trace it back to Connors. No finger prints, no make-up nothing could be found on it. She had to have had a glove on when she stuck it in Bonesara's pocket. His search for something to trace it back to her actually hadn't been a total loss though. He had founda small design inside the phone. A bridge with two guns with a name that he couldn't read quite right. Brooklyn something. The rest of thewordswere scratched out.There were several gangs in the Tanglewood Boys' territory and Connors worked in the area that they were at. So she was also after another gang besides the Tanglewood Boys. The only thing he didn't know was the name of the gang that started with Brooklyn. However he knew someone who did. Danny Messer.

* * *

Messer looked at the photo of the design carved into the phone. He didn't know where Taylor had gotten the design from because he didn't tell him yet, but he knew the design well. It only took him a moment to know what the design meant. "Brooklyn Hawkers." He told him with a scoff. "They say Brooklyn but they travel everywhere." He told him handing the photograph back to Taylor. "They can get just as bad as the Tanglewood boys. Stealing, murder, drugs." He looked up at Taylor as he looked over the photograph again. "Where'd you get that design anyway? They usually don't hand them out on a little businesscard."

"It was inside the phone Connors put in Bonesara's pocket." He told him as he pulled out a photo now of the phone to show him. "This is the third case she's on right now. So all we need to know is where the Brooklyn Hawkers are at right now."

"And I got that." Flack told them as he entered the room. Both Messer and Taylor turned to listen to what Flack had to say. "She's suppose to meet the leader of the Hawkers, a guy by the name of Anthony Grisdale, at a dance club called _Sahara._ Where he's suppose tomake a confession to the murder of a cop two years ago. How she'll get him to admit to the murderI don't know or care. She'll then callhim in when she has it recorded." He handed Taylor the directions to the club. "She won't howeverenjoy seeing the police show up before she gets the confession and the guy in a pair of bracelets."

"Yeah Jacob Hemm told me that she hated cops coming on her turf unless she told them too." Taylor began then thought over something that didn't seem to add up. "How did you get that information from the undercover cops?"

"Had a friend who is married to one of them." He said with a smile. "Thank God they talk to their wives."

Taylor nodded with a smile. At least they knew where she was at for the moment. "We still need to talk to her regardless of her case now."

"Mac,"Messer began sounding a little concerned at the fact that Taylor had said 'regardless' to where she was onher case. "You do realize that us taking her in while she's still ontwo othercases and close to closing them could expose her as a cop, right?"

"I know." He told them with a nod. "Which is why you and Flack will go to the club. Watch and wait until after she gets the guy then go after her and bring her in."

Flack raised an eyebrow. "What should we bring her in for?"

"Murder of an officer." He told them as he began to walk away towards the door of the lab to head off to talk to Bonesera to find out whether or not she had been successful in locating the man that had been with Connors the day she had been bitten by the rattlesnake.

"Which officer?" Messer questioned him.

Taylor stopped in the doorway then turned back to look at them a slight smirk on his face. "An undercover officer. Natasha Connors."

* * *

Taylor entered the lab where Bonesara sat shaking her head at the computer screen. He walked over and pulled up a chair. "Having trouble?" He asked her. She gave a nod as well as a sigh while she continued to watch the computer screen. "What's the problem?"

"The guy we're looking for," She began looking at Taylor briefly then back at the computer monitor. "He's name is Ethan Carter. Well, actually it was his name." He looked at the screen. "He died on July 2nd 2002, shot five times. He was only nineteen." She heard Taylor gave a 'huh' over her shoulder and she looked at him."What is it?"

"The date sounds familiar." He told her with a slight shrug. He had seen the date before. He was sure of it, the only thing was he couldn't remember where he had seen it. July 2nd 2002. Why did he know this date? He shook his head then turned his gazeback at the screen to see a photo of the young man. He was tan with dark black hair and brown eyes. Not much too him except a scar that ran over the bridge of his nose. "What was his major?"

"He was in the police academy."

"Explains how they met." Taylor stated staring intensely at the computer screen. "How did he end up getting shot?"

Bonesara scrolled down on the computer screen. "He was shot enter a home while in the occupantswere in the middleof an armedrobbery. There were three other casualties but it doesn't say who they were. Possibly some friends. Sometimes academy and colleges kids go to the others house to get drunk or stay over for the night." He nodded to her. "Did you get anything off the phone?"

"Only this." He handed her a photo of thedesign from the phone. "Danny said that the design belongs to a gang called the Brooklyn Hawkers. She's suppose to bringthe leader ofthem in tonight according to Flack."

"Are you sending them after her?"

He nodded. "I don't see any way out of bringing her in other than arresting her."

"Arresting her? For what may I ask?" She questioned him with a raised eyebrow. "Her record is completely clean."

"For the murder of Natasha Connors."

"You're kidding I hope."

He shook his head. "Nope." He looked over at her. She gave him a look that told him she wasn't convinced about his plan. "The killer who burned her alive was never apprehended was she?"

"So you're going to go up to her and tell her that she's under arrest for the murder of herself?"

"Well Flack and Danny actually are." He told her with a smirk. She shook her headwhat he had said."We need to talk to her. She's the only one besides the murderer that knows the truth about what happened at that apartment. She's has the information that we need. Danny and Flack are going to a club called the Sahara to pick her up after she makes a hit."

"So Flack and Danny will be dancing the night away searching for her?"

* * *

She entered the room, lights flashed brightly over the crowded bunches of people in the room. At least it was dry, it had started to rain and the weather man had said that a thunder storm was heading in. The bodies in the club moved to the music that was so loud she could barely hear herself think. She could only hope that the mic on her would pick up the leader of the Brooklyn Hawkers, Anthony Grisdale's, confession on her recorder. She'd be stuck pulling him off the floor to get his confession to the murder of another cop and several citizens of New York as well. She just wanted to get him behind bars. Two more left after him then she could go on a vacation for a few weeks. The Bahamas were beginning to agree with her right then.

The music blasted from the stereo system that was rigged up in the club. She had been here before, observing several of her targets. She knew that he would come. He never missed a Friday night here. He better had decided to start now.

She made her way into the sea of bodies. Her outfit was out to attract her prey. It as of the moment though was attracting unwanted guest. Several guys reached to grab and pull her to dance with them. Each time they did she slapped their hands away. She could see him. He sat with the members of his gang. He was drinking something, probably a beer, she couldn't tell nor did she care. She moved to the table. She saw his eyes move to her body as she made her way to him.

"Hey," She told him with a smile her hands went to her hips. "You Anthony?"

He stood up and moved over to her. "Yes.." He mumbled his answer as his hands grabbed her by her waist. He pressed his mouth against her cheek, she could smell theterriblestench of beer and cigarettes.She wanted to gag at the rank smell. "And who would you be?"

She gave a weak smile while she leaned into him and whispered. "Anything you want me to be." He gave a coy smirk. He had taken the bait now all she needed was his word to take him in for good.

* * *

Taylor walked back into the morgue again. He had told Hawkes for him to call him when he had some what of a time line or more or less order of which victim died first. With that he could learn if Connors had been around for the whole time or had left sometime through it.

"What do you have doctor?"

Hawkes pulled out a file. "Well, I'd be willing to bet money that your undercover cop wasn't at the second apartment." He told him. The file that he had was sketches of the scene that Burn and Messer had made on their second trip to the crime scene. "The victims in this room, Eric Keels and Rebecca Wilks where first to get murdered. They died from the blade wounds they strung up I'm guessing like a prize. I matched the one of the blades that killed Keels to the blade that was found on Jake Wilks." He pulled out Keels' body from the autopsy draw and pulled the blanket down to show his abdomen. "I managed to pull out a fingernail from the scratch.." He pointed to the three long scratches on his abdomen. "Here. I didn't realize it was there at first because it was so far in his skin. I sent samples to DNA. Female DNA matches the blood that Danny found on Jake Wilks shirt."

Taylor nodded. "Do you think she was in the room before the killing or somehow got dragged in there in the process?"

"I'd be willing to bet that she was in their before hand." He pointed back at the sketches of the crime scene. "More of the female's blood was found here." He pointed to a table that had blood both on top of it and beneath it as well. "Stabbed while she was sitting then pulled back against Wilks to restrain her from helping with the attacks or stop them."

"So we still have no clue who's side she was on." Taylor stated as he looked at the sketches. He thought for a moment over how Keels could have gotten Connors' fingernail beneath his skin. He pointed at the sketch. "Was Connors' nail was placed in Eric's skin post mortem?"

Hawkes nodded to him. "Defiantly a post mortem injury."

"Connors wasn't in the room the time of the two victims death," He began looking at the sketch again. "She ran in to try and stop the killings."

"Would explain the way they were dressed if she showed up after they were killed." Hawkes stated rethinking what he had said over again. "She showed up half-way through the murders?"

Taylor nodded. "She showed up as they were being strung up. Jake Wilks' grabs her and forces her to watch, in the process stabbing her. Then she was shoved forward by either him or the other murderer into Eric and used his body to break her fall. Which explains why the scratches are in a downward motion and why her nail got stuck in him. Page me if you find anything else out alright?"

"No problem." Hawkes replied as he left to wait for a call from either Flack or Messer about wher Connors was and when she would be coming in for a visit.

* * *

Flack and Messer entered the bar. They looked around the place, the people danced and moved all around on the floor. Messer looked to Flack who gave a shrug at some of the way the women and men were dancing with one another. They looked briefly before they spotted Anthony Grisdale standing in the back circling some woman like a hawk. Her head turned to follow him. Messer recognized her right away. Natasha Connors. He pointed her out to Flack, but what he didn't realize was that she had seen them. And she wasn't happy to see them either. She shot them a glare of hate and annoyance but Grisdale grabbed her and pulled her out into the crowd of people on the dance floor.

Messer watched as Grisdale held Connors close to him moving his body beside hers to the music. "How do we know when she's got the guy in custody?"

"When she puts the hand cuff's on him?" Flack suggested to him as he watched her. "She's moving. Come on, we better follow her and make sure she doesn't get into trouble."

Connors moved quickly and quietly to the back of the club. She was aware that they were there as well as following her throughout the club as she moved. The mess of bodies and noises was confusing but they still managed to follow her. Grisdale had a hold of Connors kept pulling her further back into the club. He didn't notice the shadows following them. She was thankful for that. If they blew this then she couldn't do much for a while. Kiss her vacation good bye as well. As far as Grisdale was concerned Connors was just another free ride. While as far as Connors was concerned , in only a matter of minutes he was really about to get a free ride and a free pair of bracelets.

However she missed something that Messer and Flack hadn't. A glint, almost a tiny flash from something metal that Grisdale was trying to reach for in his back pocket. Messer couldn't be sure what it was, but something told him that he knew that she wasn't just the random girl that came up wanting to screw around with him. He pointed to Flack to go to the left. They split off. Flack went off to the left to move in front of the couple, to prevent them from leaving the back way. Messer continued to follow her from behind. Watched Grisdale as he took her into a corner and pressed her against the wall.

Messer watched for a moment from about twenty feet away. Their hands intertwined, he could see them talking, over what he really didn't care. He saw Grisdale's hand moved back to his pocket again. He pressed his lips to Connors before moving them to her ear and saying something else to her. It was then that Messer saw her eyes grow wide in terror. In a flash he began to approach them but the mess of bodies made it difficult. He saw the knife get pulled from the pocket but instead of stabbing her Grisdale smashed her body against the wall. An outcry escaped her lips at the sudden burst of pain.

Grisdale's hand went to her stomach and pressed against it harshly. She cried out again as blood began to slowly ooze from the wound she had from before. Grisdale gave a smirk. Connors eyes went wider than anyone probably could have thought possible. Her hand turned into a fist and she connected with his right eye. The hit didn't take much out of him though. He grabbed her wrist and held it tightly as he brought the knife up behind him. Connors still hadn't seen the blade.

"Stop!" Messer shouted at him and moved to grab Grisdale. The shout got Grisdale's attention briefly and he turned to look at Messer. "NYPD!"

The fact Messer would shout at them meant something more than a beating for her. Connors looked down and caught the glint of the blade. Grisdale moved to stab her and she grabbed his wrists with both of hers. She knew that he was much stronger than she was but at least she could prevent some force of the blow that was soon to come. Her grasp forced the knife to the side and the blade struck her in the side. It wasn't far in her side. Merely a flesh wound. She brought her knee up and nailed him in the groin. She shoved him backwards, the knife came out of her flesh with a disgusting sound. She gave a tiny yelp as it and she turned towards the door. Flack stood in her way, his gun raised at her. She stopped moving in her tracks when she saw him. She didn't see what was about to happen to her.

Grisdale looked at Messer who was still having trouble getting to him. He turned and brought the knife up diagonally up her back. She cried out as the blood squirted from the wound and she fell forward into Flack. He grabbed her and helped her stay standing while Messer grabbed Grisdale. Connors maneuvered out of Flack's arms so he could help cuff Grisdale. Connors began to run out the back door.

"Get Connors!" Flack yelled at him as he held onto Grisdale.

Messer nodded and bolted for the door. He looked down at the ground trying to follow the blood trail that she had left behind. He pulled his gun and slowly made his way into the alley way. It wouldn't help him that it was now pouring rain and thundering as well. He turned the corner and saw a figure jogging away to his right. He jogged up to her, lightly touching her shoulder. Thunder clapped over head just as she turned at Messer's touch on her shoulder.

"Connors?" He questioned her. She began to back away from him. He looked down at his hand and saw it was bathed in red that was beginning to wash away in the rain."Natasha Connors?"

"Please just leave me alone." She told him shyly. She was still planning her role and trying to get away with it. This time her accent was southern. Why she was stillpretending likehe didn't know who she actually was he'd loved to know."I didn't do anything. I just tripped coming out of the club."

He pointed to her side where she had first been stabbed. "You're bleeding all over. You didn't get that just from tripping. So you also are lying." She didn't answer him. She looked towards the ground. "Natasha my name s Danny Messer I'm with CSI..."

"With who?" Someone else yelled down the alley coming in the direction of sirens.

Connors' eyes went wide and she grabbed Messer's wrist and yanked him into a dark corner next to the doorway of the club. She muttered several curses under her breath as she pushed his coat out of the way. He gave her a confused look as she continued to look under his jacket. "Please tell me you are Natasha Connors."

"Shut up!" She hissed at him. She yanked his gun from his holster and took the safety off. She pressed her back against the wall as she cocked the gun. "Why the hell can't you damn CSI's ever stay in you're shitty little labs?"

"Viccy?" Braker's voice rang down the alley. "Viccy is that you doll?"

She looked up at Messer and shook her head. She raised up the gun. "Thanks for the loan. Follow me and I'll shoot you." She told him then bolted down the opposite end of the alley. Opposite of where the voice had come from.

"Viccy!" Braker shouted again. "Stop dammit!" Messer heard another gun cock and he heard Braker shout again. "I said stop now!"

The gun that he carried went off and Messer watched red liquid explode from Connors' left shoulder. She cried out softly as the bullet connected wither shoulder. The collision of the bullet to her body made her fall, her face connecting with the concrete as she tried to break her fall with her hands. Unsuccessfully for her sake. She looked back at Braker as he began to move towards her. She raised up Messer's gun and shot in his direction. She wasn't trying to kill him. Well..she wanted to for all the crap she had been put through to get enough on him to put him away for a very long time. The sound of him crying out in pain made her cringe. She watched as he made his way out of the alley and away from the scene.

Messer couldn't stand by now and watch a cop get shot. He couldn't move though. If he did at the moment of the shooting he'd risk her exposure and him ending up a casualty. Of either Braker or Connors. When he was sure Braker was gone he bolted for her. She began to stand up on her own.

"Natasha!" He called out as he made his way to her. Thunder clapped over head and she turned to look at him as he ran up to her. Her hand was over her shoulder. She turned to look at him. Her eyes looked glazed over. The amount of pain she was in was terrible. Before Messer made it to her she collapsed to the ground. He grabbed her right before she completely fell over. Her hand went to a cut over her eyebrow. The blood trailed into her eyes thanks to the rain. He heard someone come out into the alley. He looked up and saw Flack. "Get the paramedics!" He shouted at him then looked back down at Connors. "Stay with me."

"Danny I only got nicked." She informed him with a low growl. She began to cough hard, a trickle of blood began to come from the corner of her lip. Her tongue rain across her lip. "Why.." She began then looked down at her torso. Grisdale had gotten her worse that she had thought. Her eyes stared up at Messer and shook her head. "It's nothing."

"You've been stabbed and shot and you're claiming that it's nothing?" He asked her. She began to cough again. He held her by her right shoulder. "Flack I need those paramedics!" He shouted again taking his jacket off and pressing it on her shoulder and another part on her torso stab wound. She shook her head at him. "Either you're going to see the ER or we can arrest you. Take you're pick."

"Arrest me?" She questioned him with a chuckle. "For what?"

"The murder of a uniformed cop."

"Oh really?" She smirked off, the red blood trickled down her chin. "Of who you?"

"No," He stated with a chuckle."Natasha Connors actually."

She gave a laugh then a cough. "You're..you're arresting me for killing myself."

"Shut up before you kill yourself talkin'." He told her as the paramedics ran up to him and Connors. "Shot onceand at least twostab wounds!" He shouted at them.

"Doctor Hector Nikolai." She told them with a sigh.Hector Nikolai was her doctorthat she saw anytime when she was injured beyond anything that she could take care of.She looked over at Messer. "I won't talk." She told him. "Not until this is over."

"You don't have a choice."

"Suddenly going deaf thanks to someone yelling my ear."

He shook his head at her as the paramedics took her away. He watched her be taken away as Flack walked up to him. "Mac's gonna meet us at the hospital." He told him. He shut his cell phone and looked at the pools of blood mixing with rain water. It was a lot of blood for only a stab. He hadn't been informed that she had been shot as well. "Did she get shot?"

Messer rolled his eyes at Flacks question. He began to look for his gun. She still had it. "Dammit." He muttered. "She's got my gun." He told him as he stood up. "Let's get to the hospital. Hopeful she still doesn't feel the need to kill me."

* * *

Taylor stood in the ER. Connors had been in for a little over a half an hour. Messer and Flack stood in the waiting room. They couldn't go in until the doctors said she could stand seeing visitors. Which for her would be never if she had her way. A doctor walked out to them. He was removing his gloves which were covered in Connors' blood and probably a donors as well. He stopped beside Taylor. "It's a good thing you didn't let her go off on her own." He told him as he looked over at Messer. "She would have died from loss of blood if it wasn't for you calling her in."

"How long until she's vertical again?" Messer asked.

"Since I know who she is," The doctor began handing Taylor a card. "She'll be out of her within the next five hours."

Taylor raised an eyebrow. "Five hours? Isn't that a little early for someone who's been shot?"

"And it is Miss Connors as well so no." The doctor told him. "She tells me she doesn't want to see anybody but with you being here and the fact she knows you're here..go in and see her."

Taylor nodded to him. He walked past the doctor and into the recovery room. Connors was sitting up, her eyes partially shut, but not all the way so she saw Taylor enter the room and shut the door behind him. Her eyes opened wider to look at him. "Miss Connors, I'm Detective..."

"Mac Taylor." She finished for him rather hoarsely. "CSI." She shook her head."Why the hell can't you damn CSIs just stay the hell out of shit that doesn't involve you?"

"It does though." He told her as he walked up to the bed. "We have evidence that places you at an apartment at the time of several murders. I need to know what happened."

"To what exclude me from the suspects?"

"Yes. But to also catch the killer."

"I know who the murderer was." She informed him with a groan. "It was Nick Braker..he's part of the Brooklyn Hawkers. Calls himself the only one with a legitimate job." She looked away from him and finished her statement: "Nothing legitimate about him."

She looked down at her hands. Something about the way she was acting seemed wrong. "Natasha, did he ever sexually assault you?"

"He tried." She told him with a sigh. "Oh the asshole tried. I slipped him some drugs so he'd only think he screwed me. When he passed out I left. Often for several hours. I'm running three cases at once. I had to be somewhere every moment of the day." She gave an annoyed growl at him. "Now. I've helped you so why don't youget the hell away from me and please stay there."

She glared at him and he shook his head. "I can't do that." He told her with a soft sigh. "You know I can't do that either." His beeper began to go off and he looked down at it Hawkes. He looked back up at her. When he got paged by Hawkes he knew he had to head to the morgue. "I have to go." He informed her putting the beeper back in his pocket. "I'll be back in an hour or two."

"I won't be here." She told him with an annoyed growl. He began to turn towards the door when she said that but stopped when he heard her say that. "Don't think your two little Hardy Boys out there will stop me either."

He walked out of the room without a reply to her comment. He would be amazed if she left before he had returned. The number of wounds that she hadn't had treated not including the two she had sustained at the club were numerous. Mostly from beatings and such things from the looks of it. He walked past Flack and Messer, pointing at them to stay put. They needed her for this case. She knew everything whether she liked to admit it or not. She had given them a name so they could bring him in. But not yet. They still needed more information. And she couldn't leave the hospital without giving them that information. Or could she?

* * *

**A:N:** As usually please no flames, I just had surgery so I really don't feel like any. Please review though. I love reviews. And vicaden too. Once again thanks to Little Wing, 72NewYorker525, YumaWolf, and dopeyidiot for their great reviews. I love them keep them coming!


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